good days.

18 more days till UGANDA!

little Lenya is the cutest burrito baby!

Favorite place to watch the sunset//PV

Daikokuya Ramen with my main man, Hunty boy!

there's no place like home for the holidays.

A Komae Christmas

This year at Komae Christmas the house seemed to be filled with a bunch of wild, crazy kids running around. There are 6 of them all under the age of 9, plus we squeezed in a few minutes to skype with the newest and youngest member of the Komae clan! Auntie Steph made an amazing meal (as usual) and we finished the night of with a gift exchange. Its such a blessing being able to celebrate yet another Christmas with Gma and Gpa...their 12+ grandkids...and their 7 great-grand kids!

recent thoughts.

(PV cliffs. lexi, anneke, emily, margaret. gopro hero3)

-HEYYOOOOO --> 28 Days till Uganda.
-tomorrow is the busiest shopping day of the entire year at our store. yowzah! I work 9-2
-I cant believe Kobe is hurt again. If I could give anyone in the world a hug, it would be him.
-Christmas lights should be a year round thing.
-the LOTR is much easier to read after you've watched the movies.
-how is it almost 2014?
-the other night I had a dream Russ and D were doing business with Heisenberg aka Walter White aka breaking bad and I woke up so thankful it was just a dream. lol
-Green tea is better than Coffee.

WHOA. WHAT A WKND.

This past weekend was quite the whirlwind. There seemed to be a lot on the calendar already, and then we heard the news that baby Lenya was coming soon...so I took a deep breath..and knew it would be a crazy one! The Lord has His ways of orchestrating everything perfectly, as always, and i'd like to share with you all a bit of the madness :)

It started off with a very celebratory Saturday - Natty sue's graduation! Natty was one of my roommates senior year of college, and due to her crazy/busy nursing schedule, she had one more semester than the rest of us. Nat is seriously one of the hardest working people I know. She earned this degree and is going to bless so many people with her loving heart, service, and nursing education. And to top it off, her boyfriend ralph graduated along side of her with a degree in nursing as well! So happy for these two friends of mine! And...all day I was checking my phone waiting for moms text telling me the update on Lenya... 

&& sure enough at 3am this little lady showed up! I made it to the hospital at around 8pm after the graduation festivities and was able to be there the whole night with Stac and Ant. It was really special being a part of the whole process and seeing the miracle that is birth! Seriously. so wild. I was able to squeeze in a few hours of sleep after Lenya was born and those quite morning hours seeing her tiny face will be something I never forget. 

After spending the morning in the hospital, I met back up with Anneke and Margaret, my two friends who were staying the weekend at my house (they were both in town for graduation). It was so fun telling them Lenya's birth story and sharing in that experience with them :) We decided to do a "food tour" of Torrance since there are so many good places to eat around here...and we even had time to stop by Daiso so they could experience the most amazing dollar store around. 

It was such a blessing having Anneke and Margaret stay over...and to have Abbie visit us for an afternoon. The Lord truly truly blessed me with some incredible friends. These chicks make everything fun, theyre so laid back, easy going, we always have such good conversation, and I love their presence in my life. So thankful they got to spend the weekend here! 

And to top it off, Kimi stopped by for a second and we had breakfast at the one and only Uncle Bills in Manhattan. It's kind of crazy that a week before Christmas we were laying in the sand in our shorts and flip flops..ohhh southern california! 

anyway, this weekend was madness. but the best kind. My heart is so full and the quality time I was able to spend with those I love was worth every minute of craziness and every hour of lost sleep!! 

LENYA JEAN MADLANGBAYAN. 

BORN ON 12/15/13. 3.22 AM. 5 LBS 12 OZ. 18.5 INCHES

good day.

This morning I woke up at 430am to meet my fellow lulu (lemonheads) at our store to carpool down to LA to spend a few hours helping out at the Midnight Mission in the heart of skid row. Its pretty rad that my job opens up opportunities to serve, and i'm super thankful for that. Although it was early, spending my morning chopping up 500 tomatoes, smiling at a bunch of stranger, and bonding with my fellow lulu's was the perfect start to the day. When you wake up early you kind of realize how full a day can really be, and how much inspiration is out there.  So I decided to whip out the old penny board and play with Jimmy (What I just decided to name my GoPro). I am still trying to get to know Jimmy, he is not as easy to work with as Joel (my 7D) but we're getting better!

It's a good day!

I go a goPRO

so...my parents are rad and got me a goPRO which I am most definitely taking with me on my trip. Thankfully I have a month to practice and figure out how to use the "world's most versatile camera" because so far I have taken about 100 accidental selfies of myself LOL. Still figuring it out but here are a few snapshots from this past weekend. Its only going to get better from here!  

Saturday 10pm- Colton had a 6hr layover in San Diego so we all drove down to hang out with him! Colt is currently serving at a camp in Haiti and was on his Christmas break flying back to Hawaii so this layover was the only time most of us will see him...you bet we stayed up all night and hung out before dropping him back off at the airport at 5am! worth it! 

Dad is the best and let D and I go to the game this Sunday night. As you all know, it was Kobe's return and the Staple Center was booming with excitement as we all anticipated him stepping back on the court. I got all emotional when they announced him hahaha ...such a epic moment and I was so glad to be there to see it. Also, this 9yr old kid sat in front of me and kept turning around and talking to me so we became friends and would high-five eachother whenever someone made a 3 pointer! HAHA! So fun.

sewing with grandma.

I feel very fortunate to have grandparents who live so close by, and who are so involved with my daily life. My grandma is a very talented sewer, knitter, baker - etc & I try to glean as much wisdom from her as possible because this lady knows what she is doing. The other day when I was over their house, it happened to be quite cold outside, so they were both wearing this neck warmers that grandma had made. So I asked if I could come over and learn how to make them. Sure enough, grandma said she had all the supplies and enough barley to stuff the neck warmers so all I had to do was come over and learn! I decided to bring my camera because there is something so special about spending time with your grandparents and I wanted to make sure I captured some of it :) 

 Forget computers, grandma is oldschool and writes everything down on note cards. 

 Grandma is also a perfectionist (which I am not) and I realize that taking the time to measure everything properly is half the battle to becoming a great crafter. something i'm still learning. 

 The whole time grandma and I were sewing, grandpa was scooting around doing the dishes and keeping himself busy. I love how hard working he is. 

 barley goes into the neck warmers and makes for the coziest heat pad!

 the finishing touches...

Grandpa modeling the nearly finished piece of work. (still need to cut the strings off) and even though this sewing project was really easy...I loved learning from grandma and spending time at G&G's house. They're always so hospitable "amie you want a snack? you want something to drink" and I am so thankful for both of them and all the love they shower over us!